A detail from I think I'll ... by Ed Ruscha 1983 Photograph: National Gallery of Art/AP

Barack Obama may be frantically fending off accusations from all sides that he is dithering over Afghanistan and stalling on health reform. At least nobody can accuse him of having lost his sense of humour.

The White House has released a list of 45 art works that the president and his wife Michelle have chosen to decorate the mansion. Among them is a painting from the living American artist Ed Ruscha called I Think I'll ...

That pretty much sums up the 44th presidency as seen through the eyes of Fox News. Yet when it comes to works of art the Obamas have shown themselves to be anything but indecisive.

The list of selected pieces has been hailed as being bold, modern and wide-ranging. All were borrowed from Washington museums, though it was stipulated that none of them should be on display to avoid depriving the public. The Obamas were advised by their long-term design guru, Michael Smith, and White House curator William Allman.

One notable feature of the list of artists is that it veers heavily towards the modern and contemporary, from the second world war almost to the present day. Mark Rothko, whose Red Band was chosen, is the most celebrated name among them, followed by Jasper Johns whose sculpture Numerals, 0 through 9, is included.

The Rothko sets a note that is common to many of the works with its typically rich, vibrant use of colour - something that clearly appeals to the Obamas. Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art which has leant more than half the pieces, said there was an accent on bold shapes and hues.

"All the works are terrific. They have a lot of wall power - they are often very colourful."

Another striking feature is the number of Native American and black artists. Several Native American pieces have been put in the president's working study, the Oval Office.

The black artists include the post-war abstract painter Alma Thomas, and William Johnson who has had four works put up in the Obamas' private residence including Flower to Teacher, painted in 1944 and depicting two African American women, one holding a flower.

Both Johnson and Thomas are dead. But the Obamas have also taken the chance to boost the profiles of living artists by hanging their works in their private quarters (works placed in the public rooms of the White House must be at least 25 years old).

One of the living artists is Glenn Ligon, an openly gay African American living in Brooklyn who is a year older than the president. His Black Like Me £2 that now hangs in the White House residence is a comment on southern segregation: he fills the canvas with words drawn from a 1961 memoir of a white writer who travelled through the south posing as a black man.

All in all, the artistic taste of the Obamas contrasts sharply with their predecessors. While the Obamas have gone for the experimental and new, George Bush went for the Texan. He favoured artists form his home state, such as Tom Lea whose Rio Grande, a hyper-realist painting of a cactus in front of dark swirling clouds, was hung in the Oval Office.

The artists favoured by the Obamas will be hoping that the current first couple have the same impact on sales as did the Bushes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the value of Lea's paintings tripled after he was given the presidential seal of approval.

• This article was amended on 9 October 2009. The original referred to "shapes and hews". This has been corrected.